J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Severn Valley, Chester and Peak District ... > Worcester and Shrewsbury Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Worcester Cathedral from the River Severn ?1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Worcester Cathedral from the River Severn’ ?1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 81 Verso:
Worcester Cathedral from the River Severn ?1831
D22300
Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 80a
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 191 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the main view is to the north up the River Severn, with the tower of Worcester Cathedral at the centre; the spire of St Andrew’s Church and the tower of All Saints Church rise beyond. There are separate details of architecture at the top left and top right. The waterfront below the cathedral has since been cleared of various structures north of the surviving Watergate, as can be seen in comparison with a watercolour study by Joseph Farington (1747–1821) of about 1789 (Tate T08447); see also under folio 4 verso (D22157).
Augmented by details on adjacent pages, the present sketch and the more precise study on folio 83 verso (D22304; Turner Bequest CCXXXIX 82a) formed the basis of the watercolour Worcester of about 1834 (British Museum, London),1 engraved in 1835 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Tate impression: T06117). The sailing boat below St Andrew’s and those in the foreground approximate to those developed in the finished design. See also the loose ‘colour beginning’ which has been linked to the subject (Tate D25158; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 36).
For other views of Worcester, see under folio 2 verso (D22154).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

1
Wilton 1979, p.401 no.862, reproduced; see also Shanes 1979, p.156, and Shanes 1990, p.286 note 185.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Worcester Cathedral from the River Severn ?1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-worcester-cathedral-from-the-river-severn-r1148948, accessed 25 April 2024.